Coconut Oil

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OK I’m back to discuss the second part in the email where I think she is asking how to prevent lint from getting into locs.

“…Secondly i am in the process of removing one of daughter’s locs due to unsightly lint, so much that when i look at it, i lose the joy! Yet, I don’t have any except at the back row. Please help!..”

Again, I’m not a hair scientist so what I’m offering is my opinion based on critical thought of what I’ve observed on my hair. I think what products one uses plays a huge part in this. Commercial products containing things like mineral oil, lanolin, alcohol-the same ingredients that contributes to dry hair, seems to make our locs more of a magnet for lint.

However, some natural ingredients beeswax, and shea butter can be lint attractors as well.

A woman processes Shea tree nuts into Shea butter. Shea butter comes from the nuts of the Shea tree (Parkia biglobosa), and for women in poor rural comunities it can provide a pathway out of poverty. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Shea butter while an excellent ingredient for helping our hair and skin lock in moisture, is a little waxy in texture. That’s what makes it a bit hard to wash out of the hair. Not a problem with loose hair-big problem with locked hair. I don’t even have to mention beeswax.

Some oils may react on your hair this way as well. Olive oil, castor oil and lemongrass essential oil produce that sticky and slightly waxy feel on my hair. This is something one needs to pay attention to because oils react differently on everyone’s hair because we don’t all have the same hair texture.

I’m gonna go out on a limb and say I think some of the shampoos and conditioners that we use might also play a part in locs attracting lint. Linty clothes, hats, scarfs, pillow cases and sheets are culprits as well.

And last but certainly not least, the towels or whatever we are using to dry our locs after washing.

Have I had the problem described in the email? Yes. It’s one of the “issues” I said I was going to talk about in my 5 year update. Though it does seem like a combination of lint, build up from products and oils that I had used in the early days of my braidlock journey. While in the 1st year of my journey I was not using any oils, I had used bath towels to dry my locs after washing. And I had started using Dr. Bronner’s soap which has olive oil-I’ve already mentioned how olive oil works on my hair.

Bottle of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Then in the beginning of year 2, I started using conditioner ( the one that goes with the Suave clarifying shampoo) on my locs. I also used the Profectiv Strengther and I used a whipped coconut oil with a tiny amount of shea butter in it. None of these practices lasted long, but long enough to where I’m seeing the effects of using those items in my locs at the 4.5-5 year mark.

Now I had stopped using bath towels before the 2 year mark, briefly using a black pillow case and then I switched to ShamWow (?) towels to dry my locs. At the time I was washing my locs 2-3 times a week to combat my oily flaky scalp problem, so I need something to dry my hair during the winter.

But I’m wondering why am I having this issue when 1) my locs were short. 2) The ends of some of my back locs were hard early in my journey. 3) I rarely wear hats and the hats I did wear were black. 4) In the winter my locs were pretty much kept covered with a satin-like cap and they were a long way from my back thereby not touching my clothes. 5) I sleep on a satin-like pillowcase I made very early on in my journey.

What I’ve noticed is the raw African Black Soap has been acting like a gentle clarifier, which is a good thing. Over time, the ends that were rock hard have been gradually softening up and starting late last year-early this year, opening up. As a result, it’s coming up to the surface and/or releasing the stuff on its own. Some I have picked out which means I’ve lost some length on those locs and the locs which have done the task on their own. So yes, a frustrating setback but not enough to make me want to start my journey over.

In the recent few weeks, I’ve also done a deep clean using a bit of Dawn, yep the same Dawn that you wash dishes with, and a bit of baking soda by putting my locs in a small bucket with very hot water. The pic in the last post, is after the deep cleanse.

English: No name baking soda (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Since I liked the results, I decided to deep cleanse every week with baking soda only, following up with another natural gentle shampoo that I’ll review later. I still love my Black Soap but I have been using it for a little over 3 years and wanted to try something different.

So this is one of the ways I’m going to use to prevent lint/buildup in the future as I really like how the baking soda seems to encourage the stuff to come to the surface to be washed away. A step that’s probably needed with locs since it’s hair that’s very close together.. different from loose hair. And it seems to make the locs fluffy and light. Funny because I know I used baking soda to wash so I wonder if I had kept up with that practice, I might not have these issues now.

The second method I have used for about 2.5 years now is not using anything to dry my braidlocks. When I say air dry, that’s exactly what I mean…100% air dry. Also I still sleep with my satin-like material on my pillow.

The last method is sticking with (no pun intended) a light oil that does not have a sticky feel to it on my hair.

Ooo, something else I just thought of, the moisturizer we put on our neck. I looked back at my early pics and noticed spots in those locks at the nape of the neck…way back then. I was definitely using whipped shea butter on my body so it’s not hard to imagine that some can rub off on those nape area locs. And as most folks do-take a shower, moisturize our skin, then style our hair. Residue from the moisturizer on our hands might be ending up in our locs and not getting completely washed out on wash day. This thought occurred to me as I’m noticing my nape locs don’t seem to have this issue anymore. Maybe because I haven’t used shea butter for some time now as a moisturizer. I stopped last year during the summer as it’s too heavy for summer use and never started back during the winter. Hmmm…might be something to try-using a light oil for your neck instead of a creamy product.

I hope that gives some food for thought on what I’m doing to prevent future lint and buildup in my locs. What are some of the things you all are doing?

I’ve been inspired to share how I prepare sweet potatoes by this post here from my friend Evelyn over at “Become a Healthier You”. Check out that post because she gives some of the health benefits of sweet potatoes so I won’t go into it here. But I will mention that sweet potatoes are inexpensive, at least they are in my neck of the woods. So cheap and good for you is a always a winner in my book.

Sweet potato hummus (Photo credit: ilovemypit)

Now I’ve mentioned it before, that I really don’t like to cook. So whatever I cook has gotta be quick and easy with minimal preparation time. But I also like to do it cheap and healthy because I’ll admit, I still indulge in stuff that really is not good for you. So I incorporate the good healthy foods as much as I can and in order for me to do that, it can’t be too much trouble.

So here’s how I prepare my sweet potato treat:

1) Pre-heat your oven.

I bake the sweet potatoes at 400 degrees F, but of course everybody’s oven is different so find which temp works best for you. It probably does not even matter what temp you use. just be aware the lower the temp, the longer it will take them to cook. While you can bake just one sweet potato, I think it’s a waste of energy to do that. Plus I don’t like to have to cook everyday so I do 4 or more at one time.

While your waiting for the oven to heat, wash your sweet potatoes and dry them off.

2) Place them on a cookie sheet, baking pan or whatever shallow pan you have and put ’em in the oven.

3) Bake for approx 45 minutes to 1 hr.

Smaller sweet potatoes will of course cook faster than larger ones. You’ll know they are ready when they are soft. Sometimes, you’ll see the flesh on the outside of the potato. The softer they are the sweeter they’ll be too.

4) Take ’em out of the oven and let them cool down a bit.

See how easy that is?!

Once they are cool enough for you to handle, unless you have asbestos hands :-), peel the potatoes you are going to eat. You’ll find that the skin comes off very easy. That’s another way to tell if you’ve cooked them long enough. As you get more experience preparing sweet potatoes this way, you’ll be able to judge based on their size, how long you’ll need to bake them.

Now some of you may want to stop right there, plop ’em on a plate and start chowing down. But I like mine similar to the traditional sweet potato pie taste so let’s continue.

5) Place the peeled potato in the dish/bowl you are gonna eat out of and add the following ingredients to taste:

cinnamon

nutmeg

coconut oil

sweetener of choice ie honey, agave etc. Use something like these as we are trying to keep this healthy.

Mix it all up with a fork and have at it! Quick, easy, cheap and nutritious…well except for the bake time. Now that’s my kind of dish!

I just wanted to share with you guys something I ran across actually a few months ago. What is that? Grapeseed oil. I found it at my local Wal-Mart grocery store and decided to try it as I remembered reading rave reviews on it for natural hair back when I was a loose natural. Don’t worry as this oil is NOT going to replace my beloved coconut oil. There is another reason I wanted to try it as I’ve been looking for an oil that stays in a liquid state to blend with my herbal coconut oil mix. I figure that would help in keeping it “soft” in the winter. What do I mean by “soft”? Because of the saturated fat in coconut oil, it becomes a solid at temps below 77 degrees F.

English: Coconut oil in solid state (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Since I’ve started using my coconut oil infused with herbs, you can see what herbs I use here, the herbs seem to help the oil stay soft. I just wanted to see if I could improve on the “soft” with an oil I can find locally and reasonably priced. This mix is the only thing I’m gonna use the grapeseed oil for. And as y’all already know and if you don’t, my hair does not like olive oil. I may be infusing this grapeseed oil with some of or all of the herbs that I use in the coconut oil at a later date but for now, I’ve put some in with my already infused coconut oil.

Well this is an update as I had already started this post shortly after trying this new oil. After several months of using this grapeseed oil mixed in with my herbal coconut oil, I’m not crazy about it. To me, the consistency is a little to close to olive oil for my liking. Basically that means just a little bit too heavy and the smell is almost like olive oil.

Now I’ve looked around on the internet and everything I’ve read says this oil is odorless so maybe it’s the brand that I got or the bottle ended up in the olive oil conveyor belt and got mis-labeled.

It was only $5 for a 24 ounce bottle so that may have something to do with it but again from what I’ve read, grapeseed oil is inexpensive compared to extra virgin olive and coconut oil. That being said, I’m not sure I’ll be trying another brand on my dime. So, I’ll be using the remainder in a mix for skin use only, or and sticking with my herbal coconut oil.

What is your favorite oil for your hair? Vote in the poll and tell me why in the comments.

In my last post I said I was going to talk about the reasons why I chose the method that I used to make an herbal coconut oil. So here I am, the one that you love. 🙂 Sorry but that 80’s song popped in my head as I wrote that. lol

Anywho…I was on Annie’s Remedies and stumbled across this page that talks about the different methods for making an oil infusion. “Great”, I said to myself! After reading the entire page, I decided on the solar crock pot method. Wait a minute! That was not listed on the site so what in the heck are you talking about ?!! I know that’s what you are saying. Let me explain. What I mean by that is I use the solar infusion method where you are putting the herbs and oils into your jar but instead of the Sun, a crock pot will be the heat source.

English: Slow cooker/ Crock pot’s parts This photo depicts the major parts of a crock-pot, namely the heating component, the ceramic pot and a glass lid. This particular crock-pot is made by RIVAL. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Why do it that way? I’ll tell ya. I liked the sound of the crock pot method but I did not want the hassle of having to transfer the heated oil and plant material from the crock pot into the jars. Ditto for the double boiler method. Plus, the lady who gave me the inspiration to infuse my own oil burned herself. She was using the double boiler method. I don’t remember the exact details but the jar shattered after putting the hot oil into the jar. Needless to say I was not to keen on trying it myself.

Sooo, I thought about the solar infusion method. I liked the sound of the solar method but the only place where I get 6 or more hours of Sun is along my driveway which is in the front yard of my house. That means I’d have to put the jars out there everyday and remember to bring them in at night or the threat of rain etc. Not such a good idea and gives me more to do when I have to leave the house. Also the neighborhood cat

When It’s an Auspicious Day, the Cats Will Play (Photo credit: Jezlyn26)

who’s a sweetie by the way, would probably think that the jars are toys so there’s no telling what would happen to them. However, I liked the idea that once I got the herbs and oil in the jar that was it until I was ready to strain the material out for use. And I only have to handle hot oil one time.

So I though hmmm, maybe I can combine the two. I know that on low heat, my crock pot heats slowly and I did not have to worry the oil burning, the water going too fast and all that other jazz one must be concerned with in dealing with oil and a stove. And since I to do my infusions in the winter, it doubles as a humidifier. Now that’s true multi-tasking. Love that!

OK, sounds great right but why does it take so long you ask? I think it’s because of the low heat being used and the use of dried herbs.

Can you speed up the process by using high heat? Maybe, if you are using oils that can tolerate high heat such as coconut oil. But from my research on infusing oils and from talking to a herbalist, high heat destroys the herb. Of course I did not want to destroy the herbs otherwise what’s the point of doing herbal infusions, right? I had previously done an herbal infusion by heating the herbs and oil for several hours but I was not impressed with the resulting oil. The second time, I left the herbs in for 8 weeks and 3 months. Again there did not seem to be any difference in the infused oil vs plain coconut oil. Maybe the infusion would turn out different if I had used fresh herbs.

Again why so long and why not use fresh herbs? I wanted a product that did not have any water content. When a product has water in it you have to contend with spoilage and I did not have nor want to have to deal with chemical preservatives. As I mentioned in the video, plants have a high water content when they are fresh. Using dried herbs lets me get around that to a degree because the water has been, of course dried out. I’m not a herbalist but my theory is because of the lack of water present, it takes awhile longer to get the herbs to release the good stuff. Remember the old school wine commercial quote ” A fine wine takes time”? I bet the same thing applies with herbal oil infusions…at least for me. The proof is in the pudding as I am continually amazed at how my locs feel and look after using my herbal oil infusion as opposed to when I was using virgin coconut oil straight. So this stuff is spiked, kicked up a notch… BAM. 🙂

In the last post, I forgot to include pics of what the oil looks like after the infusion process and 6 months or more of “simmering”. lol

This jar was done February 2012. Because I don’t need to use much on my hair and I did about 3 jars in 2010, I have not cracked this one open yet.

This is the oil after the plant material has been strained out. Like the pic above the oil is somewhat solid because coconut oil goes from liquid to solid at temperatures below 77 degrees. The aloe powder settles to the bottom of the jar.

Here is the oil when it’s above 77 degrees and the aloe powder mixed. As you can see it’s the very dark green/brown that I mentioned in the last post. That’s probably due to the aloe powder, nettle, hibiscus and sage. I have another herbal infusion that I’ve done that does not have those herbs but some of the others I mentioned and it’s a tan color.

In another post I’ll go into the why’s of each ingredient I decided to use as I did not do that in the videos I posted on here and on my YouTube channel.

Violeta over at Oceangrins did an update post on her “itchy” situation. 😉 There, a question was asked by Naturalocs on the use of coconut oil and water on locs. She said that coconut oil was softening her skin but not her locs and she asked was there a certain way to use it. I thought that this might help others so I decided to answer here in a post.

I’ll start by saying I have fine/thin hair. Now I’ve been using coconut oil on my then loose natural hair for a little bit before locking. I liked it but it was not softening my hair in the way I would have liked. I started locking about year after this point so I stopped using coconut oil and all oils for that matter until my locs were further along into the locking process. A year or so later I decided to revisit coconut oil on my locs.

Coconut Oil squircle (Photo credit: Ennor)

To be honest, I’m not sure what made me start applying coconut oil to wet hair. I liked it but still not exactly what I was looking for. When I was using it on my loose hair, I applied it onto dry hair. That worked OK but that was it…just OK.

Then after I locked, either by design or by accident (probably the latter) I applied it on my damp locs. I know this might sound crazy but what I mean by damp hair is …just washed hair. I wait until my locs have stopped dripping water but before they are slightly damp. Kinda like when you wash jeans and take them out of the washer right after it’s stopped. They are not dripping but they are wetter than a lightweight t-shirt would be that was washed in the same load. I don’t towel dry my locs or dry with anything. Applying a nice amount, I go through my locs, making sure I get the top and bottom of the locs. That’s the only time I apply coconut oil until wash day rolls around a week later. During the week, if my locs are feeling a bit dry, I’ll spritz with water only. This softens my locs right back up.

This is I was looking for! Now, why have I gone thru all that description? Because I did not get quite the same result when I started with dry locs dampened by spritzing with water. Looking at the post noted below, I see why I’ve changed how I was using coconut oil on my locs and remember this routine was before I came up with my herbal coconut oil concoction. I’ll do a post later sharing my concoction.

So try using coconut oil on your hair/locs on wash day, and don’t wait until your hair is completely dry. If that does not work, it might be that you hair does not like coconut oil. My hair does not like olive oil.